


A Bridge of Moments

by Mithen



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-13
Updated: 2010-03-13
Packaged: 2017-10-07 22:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The right moment always comes at the wrong time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bridge of Moments

The right moment always comes at the wrong time.

Clark is sitting in the Fortress, remembering the battle on Apokolips the day before.  That moment.  Parademons all around them.  Time always slows down in combat, every moment bright as crystal, edged with light and danger.  Batman's black cape whispered past Superman's ear, a caress of silk as Superman dodged, punched, hurled another enemy away.

That moment.  Even beneath the flat white lenses, Clark could feel Bruce's eyes lock on him, a fierce smile on his face that pulled an answering smile from Clark.  It was like a touch, intimate, confiding:  a recognition of beauty.

Then the sweep of combat carried them apart, the moment gone.  On the flight back, drunk with adrenaline, they all laughed as Wally imitated Desaad's shock when they burst into his chambers.  Clark watched Bruce's face, his grim smile warming into something like camaraderie for one of those rare instants.  It was a good moment.  But it wasn't the right moment.  That moment was gone.

In the Batcave, Bruce is watching tapes of a combat from last week against the Royal Flush Gang.  The security camera feed is grainy and glitchy, but still--he leans forward, watching intently.

On the screen, Batman has leapt from the casino chandelier to land on Ten, who is bent over Superman.  Batman rolls with the impact, coming up at the end of the roll, and--there.  Bruce pauses the tape to catch the moment.  Superman is looking at Batman and the camera catches the affection and something like awe.  And something more. 

Batman remembers his body's reaction to that look.  Body and heart;  his mind had been busy planning the next step in the battle.  But the body and the heart had known.

Bruce hits play and the moment is gone;  King attacks and Superman and Batman scatter before his blasts.  An instant, fleeting, almost unmeasurable.  The right moment always comes at the wrong time.

He could, Bruce knows, seize that moment the next time.  Ignore the battle raging around them, grasp the lifeline of Clark's gaze and follow it to the source to claim it as his own.  He could.  But neither will risk distraction.  Neither will let the world go for the time it would take to make the potential actual.  It's always the wrong time. 

But each moment is right.

Bruce pulls off his gloves and finds that he's smiling. 

In the Fortress, Clark speaks the Kryptonian command that lowers the lights.  In the dimness, he remembers again the touch of Bruce's gaze, rich and rough as velvet.  His lips curve, an echo and a mirror of a smile on the other side of the world.  It's just a moment, one heartbeat connecting the past and present.

A bridge of moments to fill the space between them.

Enough to build a life on, if not the life most would expect.


End file.
